Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

"Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future," a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement. After that first announcement on Wednesday evening, we can add a bit of context to the news. Punch it!

Here's the story from THR that we discuss in the episode, and which goes into detail about the social media posts that led to this action: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/the-mandalorian-star-gina-carano-fired-amid-social-media-controversy

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From becoming a Wayseeker to taking the Barash Vow, and discussing what comes more naturally to some Force users than others versus learning by sheer willpower, we're diving into new things we learn about the Force and the Jedi in Into the Dark. Punch it!

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After listening back to the non-spoiler review of Into the Dark, I realized that anything I said about the character Geode likely made no sense at all. So we'll briefly discuss the lack of official information about some characters from the new novel, but really, we're here to talk about the hilarity of Geode. Punch it!

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Nearly everyone has a history catching up to them in Into the Dark, the High Republic YA novel by Claudia Gray. It's unusually structured, uniquely entertaining, and features the best running comedy gag in all of the new canon. Punch it!

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While we didn't learn anything new about "The Client" during season 2 of The Mandalorian, Chapter 12 (The Siege) helped to show The Client's activities from season 1 in a new light. Punch it!

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BUCKETS OF BLOOD!!! Yes, we're kicking off the second half of the conversation with Daniel Jose Older by exploring the inspiration for Jedi Master Torban Buck... Punch it!

Here's Daniel's official bio:

Daniel José Older, a lead story architect on the Star Wars cross-platform initiative The High Republic, is the New York Times bestselling author of the sci-fi adventure Flood City, the Middle-Grade historical fantasy series Dactyl Hill Squad, The Book of Lost Saints, the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series, Star Wars: Last Shot, and the award-winning Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher, which won the International Latino Book Award and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize in Young Readers' Literature, the Andre Norton Award, the Locus, the Mythopoeic Award, and named one of Esquire's 80 Books Every Person Should Read and one of Time's best fantasy books of all time. He co-wrote the upcoming graphic novel Death's Day and writes the monthly IDW comic book series The High Republic Adventures. You can find more info and read about his decade long career as an NYC paramedic at http://danieljoseolder.net/.

He's also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/djolder/

And TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danieljoseolder

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I'm thrilled to finally debut this episode! Daniel and I had this conversation back on January 19th, but since we were talking about his Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, I needed to hold this until after issue #1 came out, which was earlier this week. Punch it!

So, we'll start by talk about about the notion of a "lead story architect" (see in his bio), about adapting his writing style for the comics space, and much more...

Here's his official bio:

Daniel José Older, a lead story architect on the Star Wars cross-platform initiative The High Republic, is the New York Times bestselling author of the sci-fi adventure Flood City, the Middle-Grade historical fantasy series Dactyl Hill Squad, The Book of Lost Saints, the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series, Star Wars: Last Shot, and the award-winning Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher, which won the International Latino Book Award and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize in Young Readers' Literature, the Andre Norton Award, the Locus, the Mythopoeic Award, and named one of Esquire's 80 Books Every Person Should Read and one of Time's best fantasy books of all time. He co-wrote the upcoming graphic novel Death's Day and writes the monthly IDW comic book series The High Republic Adventures. You can find more info and read about his decade long career as an NYC paramedic at http://danieljoseolder.net/.

He's also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/djolder/

And TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danieljoseolder

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

The other major announcement (aside from Andor) that we never talked about after the Disney Investor Day was The Bad Batch! So today, let's revisit that heady trailer filled with planetary arrival shots... Punch it!

BTW, here was the official description from July 2020 - which was repeated verbatim on the official Star Wars website within the rest of the Disney Investor Day announcements:

The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.

And if you haven't seen the sizzle reel yet, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB9DIxdB198

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You know, we never talked about the Andor series updates that came from the Disney Investor Day! Well, let's correct that, shall we? And let's see what's new since then, too... Punch it!

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Blizzards. White-outs. Multiple avalanches. And Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher weren't even supposed to be there! That's just the tip of the glacier when it comes to the insanity of the Hoth location shoot. Punch it!

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